The legalisation of euthanasia is a real possibility in the Australian state of Tasmania. But today’s media launch of a stunning new website could tip the balance in favour of opponents. Hopefully it will get widespread publicity.

A criminologist at the University of Tasmania doubts that many people in the community will be able to give full and voluntary consent to ending their lives through euthanasia. The growing prevalence of elder abuse suggests that aged people could easily be manipulated.

The national newspaper, The Australian, ran an article this week calling for a national hotline to be set up to deal with the problem of Elder Abuse. Council of the Aging chief executive, Ian Yates, made the call for a national phone line adding that the problem of Elder Abuse was, “likely to continue with the aging population.”

Roy Charles Laird, 88, was arrested this week after allegedly shooting his 86-year-old wife, Clara Laird, in her California nursing home. The couple’s daughter described the act as a “mercy killing”. Laird staunchly persisted in feeding and bathing his wife, Clara, 86, as dementia and crippling illness took away her ability to walk, sit up, feed herself or recognise visitors, according to the daughter, Kathy Palmateer, 68.